Jours 38-41

Bonjour tout le monde!

Jours  38-41

June 2-June 5

Today is my last day in Paris, which is heartbreaking. However, these past couple days have been completely amazing and nearly perfect (the only thing not perfect was the weather).

On Thursday, while everyone else was doing a walk I had already done, I went off on my own through a random part of Paris and just walked around. It was seriously so freeing. I just had my French music playlist in, and I walked by the Seine which is almost overflowing and into the île St. Louis and it was just awesome. I went home a little early that day to prepare to go to Giselle!! My host sister is so nice, she let me wear one of her dresses and her super nice coat to the ballet which was awesome.

Outside of the Palais Garnier

 I packed a little dinner, or a “picnic” as my host mom calls it (which is apparently the French way to go to an opera/ballet) and I was off on my own. Giselle was completely amazing!!! I wrote about it in my Activités Culturelles post, but it was just incredible. I was so impressed by everyone’s dancing and I had a wonderful sixth row spot and life was so good. I just wished I had someone else that I could experience it with.

Inside the Palais Garnier

On Friday I got to go to EURODISNEY!! AKA Disneyland Paris. So pretty much my two favorite things put together.

In front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle

 It is so interesting how different but how similar Disneyland Paris is to normal Disneyland. For one thing, it’s much smaller. I would probably say it was about half the size. But, there was also about half the people. The longest time I had to wait for a ride was 40 minutes, and that was an a little kid ride. I only used 2 fast passes because I didn’t even need them. Also, the ambiance is definitely different. It’s so interesting the clash of cultures because you have Disneyland which is all happy go lucky, happiest place on Earth and such, and then you have Paris, where everyone wears black, smokes, looks defeated and it rains every single day. But even though it was in Paris where no one seems to be super happy, it was still amazing.

Being super serious on Buzz Lightyear

 It was also really cool because there were people from all different countries there. I would say it was 40% English speakers, 30% French, and the rest was just a mix of Italians, Spanish people, dutch people, just all sorts of languages going around. Another difference is, besides fantasyland which is exactly like Disneyland, the rides are more about the rides themselves then the scenery. For example, Indiana Jones was a roller coaster with loops, as was space mountain. Tower of terror was exactly the same so that awesome. Another thing, food in Disneyland Paris is seemingly normal price because food in Paris is just so freaking expensive so that was a nice surprise. Overall, it was such a fun day, and I mainly spent it alone with my friend Stephanie, so we got on all the rides really fast because we did a lot of single-riders.

Main Street at night

Saturday I felt was my last true day doing things in Paris. Melissa and I had to say goodbye to one of our host sisters today because she was going back to her University for a little while. Melissa, Stephanie and I went to the Palais Garnier (for the third time) and toured around. Then we walked over to the Louvre and the Musée D’orsay and looked at the Seine with everyone else taking pictures of it. After, Stephanie put a lock on the lock bridge for her cousin that just got married. Then we went over to Rue Cler and ate delicious Italian food for dinner, and then I bought myself a warm, out-of–the-oven cookie which was just so amazing because I had been craving cookie for so long.

My delicious Cookie

 Finally, after dinner we decided to go to the top of the Eiffel tower. It was the first time that we had done this since we got to Paris. Although we couldn’t see the sunset because it was overcast, the view was still amazing and it wasn’t raining. Also, it was super cool to look over the city because I knew what all of the major buildings were, and I also knew that I had been inside them all. From up there I could truly see that I had been all over Paris. It was such a wonderful day to end my trip here.

The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower

On Sunday there was a church conference, so we had church in a different place than normal. We wanted to go to Versailles, but the RER C was closed due to flooding so it was going to be really hard to get there. Then we decided to check out Uber, and it turns out Versailles is a 20 minute drive from where our house is! That’s it! So we took an uber to church (which took half the time that it normally takes us) and were able to go to church in Versailles. Then we really wanted to go see the temple, and this super nice older missionary couple drove us over there to go see it and then dropped us off at the train station. 

The Temple getting constructed

Melissa and I had some lunch, got some delicious gelato and then walked through the jardin de Luxembourg. Then, an amazing thing happened. We got the RER B right when it pulled up to the station, and then we only had to wait one minute for our RER A, and then the bus to get home from the RER pulled up right when we got off the RER. Let me tell you, this NEVER happens. We usually have to wait 7 or 8 minutes for each of those things. Also, today the sun almost come out behind the clouds so that was exciting. Overall, it was an amazing couple of days packed with so many awesome things.

À Bientôt,

Claire Hunsaker

Activités Culturelles

Bonjour tout le Monde!

For the class that I am currently enrolled in, I also need to do three cultural activities in Paris excluding all of the different walks that I can do. Personally, I feel that living in Paris is a cultural activity, but this forced me to go out and find different opportunities to experience more of the culture.

Activité Culturelle 1:May 24: Le Spectacle de la college de Rueil-Malmaison

            In Rueil-Malmaison there is another girl living with our family, and she is thirteen years old. She lives there because the arts program in Rueil-Malmaison is incredible, and I was able to see this for myself as I watched the performance. It was fun because my host mom got us in for free in the reserved section, and she was able to introduce the performance. Perks of being in charge of culture on the city councel. The performance started with a choir of children. They had all of these intricate rhythms they were making up with their hands by doing claps and stuff. I was amazing that everyone was able to participate. I was amazed by how well everyone knew everything, and that even the unruly boys were doing it and paying attention. There was another choir, and then we got to see the girl dance. It is amazing to me that they actually teach ballet at the middle schools here, and that some of the girls were on pointe. I wish people had that kind of opportunity where I lived. We were able to watch the girls do a character dance and some ballet exercises. After, another group did a whole Mozart performance, and performing many different songs by them. Lastly, people did a portion of a baroque opera, and some of it was in English so I could actually understand. Obviously, it was just a middle school performance so it was not amazing, but I was amazed that it was all put on by the school and not a private organization.

My Host mom (second from the right) introducing the performance

The Mozart performance

Activité Culturelle 2: April 25: The Catacombs

            Although I did this cultural activity just because I was interested in it, I found out recently that it counts as a cultural activity too which is great! I found the catacombs very interesting. The catacombs were created in 1787, mainly because one of the largest cemeteries in Paris was causing infections to the people. The remains of bodies were moved from that cemetery to the catacombs and until 1814 the catacombs received remains from all of the cemeteries from Paris. It was very interesting to go down into the catacombs. Not just because all of the bones that were there but also because there were many interesting quotes and proverb that lined the walls. Overall, it felt like a place full of history, and of course it was quite creepy going down many flights of stairs to a place full of the remains of people.

Just hanging with some bones

"The eyes of God are fixed on the just and his ears are open to their prayers"
(Also I was really excited to be able to translate that myself)

Activité Culturelle 3: June 2: Giselle

            This was by far my favorite cultural activity. I had been looking for tickets to Giselle for the longest time, and I was so excited when I was randomly searching for about the 5^th time and found that there was ONE ticket left. To be able to see Giselle in the Palais Garnier was a dream come true. Giselle is a shorter ballet, telling the story of a peasant girl who fell in love with someone who was betrothed to another. She dies from a broken heart and then the Wilis, a group of supernatural women who dance men to death, summon Giselle from her grave and she saves her love from dying. The story sounds a little strange, but the dancing was amazing, especially with the male dancers. There was one male dancer who was not a lead, but had the most amazing solo, and they all danced so well. The principle dancer was so graceful and beautiful, and it was amazing to see the whole corps dance together. Overall, it was such a great experience, and I loved being able to see it in the Palais Garnier, one of my favorite places ever. I do wish I could have had the opportunity to see it with someone else too, but I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to watch it. It was such a beautiful ballet.

The stage for the Palais Garnier

Some of the seats for the Palais Garnier

The Wilis

À Bientôt,

Claire Hunsaker

Jours 35-37

Bonjour tout le monde!

Jours 35-37

May 30-June 1

I cannot believe that it is my last week here in Paris. These past six weeks have gone by so fast and I am so sad to realize that it is almost over. And, of course, it is raining every single day this week. Perfect way to end my trip here in Paris. My professor told me that this is the most it has rained in May since 1872. Also, on Monday, it rained more in that day than the average rain for a month in Paris. Needless to say, life here is pretty cold. Also, the Seine is kind of overflowing, which is absolutely insane.

When the boats are level with the bridge

 It’s also kind of sad because our class cruise for Wednesday was cancelled because boats cannot get under the bridges. I finished my last walk for my class last week, so this week was completely devoted to going back to all of the things that I wanted to do. The list that my friends and I decided that we need to do before we go is:

-The Louvre (because it was amazing and we only went to a little bit of it)

-The Musée D’orsay (for the same reason)

-The Musée Carnavalet (it was closed when I went, I was able to go again last week)

-The Musée du Moyen Age (It was closed)

-The Palais Garnier (it was amazing, and I get to go again for Giselle)

-The Jardin de Luxembourg (with delicious gelato of course)

-The Rue de Rosiers (for all of the falafels)

-Magnum (the ice cream bars are just so pretty)

-The Eiffel tower (I have seen the lights so many times, but I have yet to go up)

-Eurodisney (because why not)

-Angelina’s (was able to go again for my birthday)

-And for me, I wanted to my run again along the Seine with the Parc des Impressionistes

So needless to say, we had a lot of stuff to do. And what did we end up doing on Monday? We watched x-men. However, it was absolutely pouring so I didn’t feel to bad. Also, it was only 5 euros and you just can’t beat that. Also, we got some delicious falafels so we were able to mark that off our list.

On Tuesday we didn’t have class because we had a take-home test to do. In the morning I went into Paris and had hot chocolate with a friend I met at my host sister’s soirée. It was really fun to just sit there and talk, because he spoke English the whole time because he wanted to practice, and I spoke French the whole time because I wanted to practice. However, we were able to understand everything each other said which was awesome. Then in the afternoon I went over to the Musée D’orsay again. 

Inside the Musée d'Orsay with Stephanie

This is definitely my favorite museum in Paris. We were able to go into a couple exhibits they had going on, like Le Douanier Rousseau, and then we spent most of our time up at the Impressionist floor. I was so excited because I was able to see some of Degas paintings with the dancers. 

One of Degas' paintings

After, Stephanie and I got lunch at this super cute café right next to the huge clock which was really fun. After, I just went home, studied and started the test. Also, I was able to watch a French movie about Asterix and Obélisk. The movie was based off of the French comics, and it was really funny but a little hard to understand, even with the French subtitles.

On Wednesday, after class Stephanie, Melissa and I went to get Magnum bars. They were so delicious, and so incredibly pretty.

The beautiful Magnum bar

 After, we decided to go over to the Louvre. We might have accidentally cut everyone in the security in the line and went to the front. We were able to get in for free, YAY arts card, and we saw the ancient Egyptian portion of the museum, as well as the ancient African, Oceanic, Polynesian section. The last section was incredibly hard to get to and find, it was a little ridiculous. 

Being super touristy at the Louvre

That night I came back, and went on my run down to the parc des impressionistes and along the seine. This is my favorite run ever and I’m sad I won't have the opportunity to do it anymore. 

In the Parc des Impressionistes

I finished my test, and then to reward myself I decided to watch Phantom of the Opera to get prepared for Giselle which is taking place at the opera house the story is based off of. I seriously forgot how amazing this movie is, and I am so excited for Giselle!

À BIentôt,

Claire Hunsaker

Promenade #21: Get Lost! The "Anti-Walk" Walk

Bonjour tout le monde!

Anti-Walk

June 2, 2016

Today I did the "Anti-Walk," or the Get Lost walk. I actually really enjoyed this walk, and I was able to explore some places in Paris that I hadn’t already been to before. The walk started at the Musée Cluny, a museum that I went back to because it was closed last time. I simply chose a direction and started walking down one of the hundreds of the picturesque Parisian streets. This walk mainly took place near the Seine in the 4^th Arrondisment, and in the île St. Louis.

One of the many picturesque streets I went down

I passed by a cute park, and then another church I had yet to visit. I saw a statue of Mihai Eminescu, a major romantic Romanian poet. After, I continued to wonder the streets. I saw another very pretty church and then found that I was back at the Seine.

Cute Little Park

Statue of Mihai Eminescu

It is crazy how much rain Paris has been having, and you can see the affects of it in the Seine. Boats are now unable to cross under the bridge and the walkways along the Seine are completely flooded. It was funny too see everyone stop to take a picture of it.

The Seine overflowing

I then crossed the bridge between mainland paris and île St. Louis, and in the distance I could see an interesting statue of what looked to be a Saint holding a child, but it was a little hard to see in the picture. I went into the île St. Louis and walk around and through the whole little island in the middle of the Seine. Finally, I walked through I think the smallest road I have ever been in, and I ended up at the Hôtel de Ville.

The Tiny street I walked through

I quite enjoyed just being able to walk aimlessly through Paris, but it would’ve been nice to know more about the history of what I was looking at.

À bientôt,

Claire Hunsaker